The price of gingerbread cookies
by Fareetauhl
Summary: Sting had no idea what he was getting into when he decided it was a good idea to start a bet of stealing cookies from Lucy's apartment... And he has no idea why he thought it was ever a good idea in the first place.


**AN: Quick Sticy, as suggested by EmpressofEverything, to celebrate the holidays. Merry Christmas (Eve) guys! I hope you enjoy this quickie and your hopefully numerous presents!**

Sting groaned as he was abruptly roused from his sleep by the sound of a crash.

What could it be now?

It was about two in the morning, which meant that either one of Lucy's teammates had broken in, or…

Yeah. It was most probably one of Lucy's teammates. They didn't have boundaries after all.

Groaning, he relinquished his hold on the covers in favor of throwing on a shirt and going out to check the commotion. If Lucy was woken up by her teammates this early on _Christmas_ , he doubted they would live to enjoy the holiday.

And as much as he loved seeing his girlfriend in action (it was an odd mixture of frightening but still a little sexy), Natsu was just too awesome for Sting to let him suffer.

Even if he wanted to-just a little bit.

He padded softly towards the kitchen, the most likely source of the invasion. Lucy had just baked a fresh batch of gingerbread cookies the previous night, and he knew for a fact that her guild had a bet going on who could steal the most by Christmas Day. Mainly because he had, in fact, started the bet in the first place. Not out of malicious intent though. Just because that would make it easier for him to win the bet and reap in some cash for a much needed vacation away from all the chaos. After all, most of the guild was still unaware that they lived with each other, which gave him a huge advantage. Only her team was aware of his residency, so they had taken his bet as a challenge. Hence the break-ins in the last few days, and probably the one occurring right now.

Honestly though, it wasn't as easy as it looked to sneak cookies past her. Even if you lived with her, like Sting did. It just made her watch you extra close.

It was frankly getting a little creepy.

In fact, the whole holiday season had done little to aid Sting this year.

First, his girlfriend turned into a complete psycho.

Then, they constantly got annoying break-ins from guildmates (even if that was partly his fault).

And finally, Mirajane, Fairy Tail's demonic matchmaker, had taken to practically throwing mistletoe everywhere. Even at people who weren't couples. Which made it very awkward, since she was still unaware of their relationship, when Lucy and he got paired up with different people.

Awkward indeed.

But none of them compared to the first one.

At least she was probably asleep right now.

Probably.

Sting finally reached the kitchen, and quickly hissed out a warning. "Hey guys, if this is you, the cookie bet is _off_. Lucy will go batshit _insane_ if she finds any of you here now. In fact, the holidays have urned her into some kind of-"

He paused as he rounded the corner.

There, sitting in the small circle of light provided by a lone candle sat his wife.

With a positively demonic look on her face.

"Some kind of what, Sting?" Lucy asked, an eerie expression on her face.

Sting gulped. "So-Some kind of _angel_ , sweetheart. Because _you_ are positively angelic for putting up with me?"

She grinned, the flash of white highlighted by the yellow glow of the candles. "That's what I thought. Now, be a dear and run back to bed? Santa won't come if you're awake now, would he?"

Sting nodded furiously. "No, he wouldn't. I'll just…get back to bed then." He awkwardly backed away, struggling to avoid to point out the obvious fact that _she_ was still awake. "I'll just go then."

She nodded sagely. "Yes, you should go. I'm just going to stay here and watch over these cookies for Santa. Because lately, it's come to my attention that there is some kind of _game_ involving my cookies. And, get this-"she laughed falsely. "Some people have even said that you're the one who started it!"

Sting gulped harder, his Adam's apple bobbing. Well shit. How did she find out? "Nope. Wasn't me. Rumors these days, huh? I heard it was Natsu. Actually, I'm pretty sure it was Natsu."

Sting mentally apologized to Natsu, but no matter how much he respected the guy, if it came to Lucy killing one of them, he'd rather it be Natsu.

"Well, if you say so. Since you're my boyfriend, and I know you love me too much to lie to me," her glare darkened. "I believe you. Go on back to sleep. I'm going to stay here for a while longer."

Sting turned around as fast as possible and almost dashed towards the bedroom. Sure, he loved her, but he'd rather not be around when she found out he lied.

"And Sting?" she called back at him.

Shuddering in fear, he turned around again. "Yes, love of my life?"

"Would you toss me my whip? I think I forgot it on the coat hook over there. I might need it after all."

Gripping the handle, he gently dropped the whip beside her and once again dashed towards the bedroom. This time, he made it in safely, and quickly managed to bolt the doors to buy himself some time. From there, he grabbed a set of his normal clothes, quickly changed, swung open the window, and dropped out.

It looked like it wouldn't be safe to return here until _after_ Christmas was over.

And then, the two of them could take a nice long vacation, probably accompanied by some couples' therapy sessions.

 _Many_ couples' therapy sessions.

For now, he might stay with Yukino and Midnight in their place. If he approached Rogue, he knew the shadow dragon-slayer would kick him out and back to Lucy without another thought. Yukino, however, would probably convince both Lucy _and_ her husband to allow him to live.

Probably.

But if he stayed here, he was most certainly dead, so he elected to move.

Maybe this was all unnecessary. Maybe she wouldn't find out. Maybe she would forgive him.

But if he believed _that_ , he most definitely would not be Lucy Heartfilia's probably dead boyfriend right now so…

It was probably best to get moving.

Omake:

Lucy cracked her whip against the wall, mindless of the shaking portraits and the vase that nearly toppled over.

"Natsu," she cooed, angelic smile still in place.

He gulped, struggling to hide the crushed gingerbread cookies behind his back. Gray shot him an equally terrified look. Erza, Wendy, Happy, and Carla had all elected to stay behind, and _away_ from Lucy's fury, but he and Gray had both (mistakenly) attempted to once again win the bet.

"I'll ask you one more time. Who was it that started this absolutely fascinating bet in the guild?"

Natsu cowered against the wall. This was the end. He would never go on another mission, fight and finally defeat Laxus and Cobra, or see Lisanna again. And it was all Sting's fault.

Speaking of which, where was the bastard when you needed him?

"Staying silent huh? Then I guess I'll have to BEAT IT OUT OF YOU!"

Natsu and Gray let out twin screams of fear as she drew near, spinning her whip all the while.

And he didn't even get to make S-class…

 **AN: And that's that. I picture Lucy as being an absolute nightmare when someone messes with her cookies, based on her general attitude and her reaction to the Cherry Blossom festival in the anime!**

 **Did you guys catch the shameless MidKino reference? Did you?**

 **Anyways, next up is probably either a New Year's fic, or I'll skip that and either update The Real Story Behind Werewolves or post The Way all Fairy Tales Should End. The rest of my time will be spent on MidKino week, or possibly LaLu week, which is coming up soon.**

 **So Merry Christmas guys! And an early Happy New Year! (Since I don't know if I'm posting then.)**

 **-Fareetauhl**

 **I can't give you guys a break even for the holidays, so…**

 **In other news... MidKino (Midnight x Yukino) week is coming up in January, hosted by the always amazing Empress of Everything, and I plan to board this awesome ship and co-host with her!**

 **MidKino Week prompts:**

 **Day one:** Can I keep you?

 **Day two:** Sugar High

 **Day three:** Roommates

 **Day four:** Late night shopping

 **Day five:** Makeup fail

 **Day six:** Old friends

 **Day seven:** Transport

 **Bonus:** Burnt

 **That's all there is! Let me know if anyone else decides to participate-I'd love to read more of this ship!**

 **I almost forgot to tell you guys what days it is... It's from January 31 to February 6, 2016.**

 **I hope you can participate!**


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